In The Evening
by Beloved-Stranger
Summary: This is NOT the epic love story of a girl and a vampire. This girl has a personality, a sense of self-preservation and Adam Milligan. Chapter6: "If you want to date her just ask her out – she likes you, she'll say yes. And then Mike will stop saving himself and I'll finally get to shimmy him out of his prom dress!" Jess added brightly. "Everybody gets laid! Yays!"
1. Chapter One: New Kid on the Block

**Disclaimer:** I don't own either _Supernatural _or _Twilight_, but if I did….wow, the shit I would get up to.

**AN (please read, it's actually important):** Now, no doubt some people are not going to like this. If you ship Bella/Edward, you will not like this. If you want Adam Milligan dead, you will not like this. If you think _Twilight_ was a masterpiece of literary fiction, you should just hit that back button RIGHT NOW, because you will not like this.

HOWEVER, if you thought Bella and Edward's relationship was seriously unbalanced and Bella needed to grow a pair and Edward needed to get down of his dramatically high horse, you are gonna love this. If you thought Adam Milligan was a seriously underutilized character, you are in the right place. If you read _Twilight_, got to the end of and went, 'I'm sorry WHAT?' you are probably _gagging_ for this.

Now, just so we're clear – this is AU. It's AU for most of season 4 of Supernatural and pretty much all of the Twilight Saga. It's AU in other ways, in that my original conception of the story went along the lines of – _well, what if Bella had a personality, and a spine, and a functioning sense of self-preservation?_ Then things got a little more interesting when I asked, _what if she had better friends, or just one even?_

So then I crossed it over with one of my favourite series and now this AU hinges on a very particular event taking place, which changes _everything_…

* * *

**Chapter One – New Kid on the Block**

An old Ford Falcon circa 1972 passed the 'Welcome to Forks' sign, followed closely by a movers van, and from the front passenger seat Adam Milligan watched it pass his window with laconic eyes.

Fleetwood Mac was playing on the radio of his mom's car and Kate was humming along with Stevie Nicks while she crooned _thunder only happens when it's rainin'_ to an unseen audience.

"How far to the house?"

"Not long now, honey," Kate said, offering him a smile. "I've got a good feeling about this place, you know."

Adam smiled back, and silently hoped she was right.

Overhead, the clouds finally broke open and rain reached down from the molten steel sky.

* * *

Two weeks later, Bella Swan watched that same sign go past with a faint sense of dread.

As they passed a house two blocks from Charlie's place, a faint tingle went up her spine, and she frowned, looking back over her shoulder at it. It had a bright blue door, a wind chime on the porch and there was a boy her age, or maybe a bit older, wheeling his bike up the driveway.

Unnoticed, small points of light gathered under the skin of her fingertips…

* * *

Her first full day in Forks was wet, just like yesterday, last night, and all the weather that would undoubtedly follow. It was depressing, but in all honesty…she'd chosen this. There was no point sulking when she was the one who'd put herself on a plane.

Charlie had left before her, putting his breakfast dishes in the sink just as she'd come downstairs. There had been some awkward hopping around in his – _their_ – their tiny kitchen while Bella made herself toast (too cold for cereal) and Charlie tried to say casual but affectionate goodbyes while simultaneously not being late for work.

Bella had solved the problem by kissing his cheek, telling him to stay safe and then shoving him out the front door.

In the brief moment of quiet, she'd had her toast, thought longingly about a latte and settled for tea because Charlie only had instant. And…and wondered how her mother was doing.

God, she hoped Phil was up to the task of looking after Renée. He seemed capable…

_Enough moping_, she thought, savagely biting into the last of her toast and heading for the door. _Remember how no one likes a martyr?_

The truck roared to life around her but the radio worked, thank god, and she was able to find an independent station that aired from a few towns over and played foreign indie rock. She caught the band name but not the song, Gasoline Cowboy playing…something. It was good – not her usual fare, but sweet, and heartfelt. It made her think of California, actually, sunshine on a beach, warmth and open skies and family…

She came around the corner, still drifting pleasantly on the chorus when something shot up her spine, like blood flowing back to a pinched limb – pins and needles time a thousand – and like a premonition, there was the place with the blue door.

The wind chime was swinging wildly, its jangling barley audible over the persistent rain and the roar of Bella's truck. The boy wasn't out front at the moment (and who would be in this weather) but his bike was there, tucked up out of the rain on the front porch.

She bit her lip and rubbed her tingling fingertips on the old leather of the steering wheel. _Weird._

Things proceeded rather mundanely from there on; she was ahead in classes, so she was free to take scant notes and spend the rest of the time surreptitiously writing letters to the few friends she'd left behind in Phoenix. She'd email them when she got home.

_Dear Holly,_

_I think you'd kind of hate it here – its wet all the time – but there are so many trees I bet your Eco Warrior Soul would be just _wallowing_ in all the green. I'm ahead in classes (I've read everything in this English Class fifty thousand times already – I wish they'd just let me do _To Kill A Mocking Bird_! Something _after_ the turn of the century!), so I'm writing to you and trying not to laugh because I'm picturing the faces you'll make when you read this._

_How're Toby and Dill? I miss you all already and it's only my first day. Living with Charlie is kind of weird. Kind of awkward. All my class pictures are on the mantelpiece at the house (which is potentially embarrassing) and he's still got his and Mom's wedding picture up there. I don't think he's over her, and it would be awkward too if it didn't make me so sad. He can look after himself well enough in all the ways Mom can't, but I get the feeling I'm going to be looking after him in other ways that Mom never had a problem with._

_But promise you'll reach through the internet and slap me if I start trying to set him up with someone. I refuse to turn into a teen yenta for my father._

_Loads of love,  
Bella_

Things _really_ kicked off around lunchtime, however. Before she'd even sat down, a line of sensation blasted up her spine and raised all the fine hair along her scalp.

Bella blinked in surprise and had to steady herself on a chair.

Jessica – tiny, bubbly, happy to fill in the conversational gaps Bella found herself leaving – put a hand on her arm, looking worried.

"You okay?"

"Uh, yeah, just…head-rush."

"Okay, come sit down then. Everyone's over here."

She led Bella to a table in the middle of the cafeteria and began introducing people. Bella tried to keep up, but she'd never been what you'd call fantastic with names.

One however, seemed to stand out.

"…and this is Adam, he's new too."

The boy sitting across from her looked up, eyebrows raised, expression curious. He met her gaze and smiled, lop-sided and rueful. He was cute, all sandy hair that seemed to stand up of it own volition and blue eyes that in this light tended towards teal. Unlike the rest of the table's occupants, he offered her a hand to shake.

"Adam Milligan, lately of Windom, Minnesota."

She smiled back. "Bella Swan. Phoenix, Arizona."

Then their palms touched and –

_Sparks blind her._

_Torrents of them fill her._

_They line her veins, flash through her heart._

_She feels them flashing upon the backs of her eyes._

_They burn like captive sunlight under her skin._

_She meets his eyes, and for a moment she can see them in him too…_

Both of them yelped and pulled their hands back, startled by the buzz of energy that raced across their skin and up their nerve endings.

"What the hell what that!" Adam was laughing, shaking his hand out.

"Static shock," Bella said, making a face and rubbing her palm.

"Hell of a first impression." He's smile crinkled the corners of his eyes and she found herself laughing, ignoring the vision that still blazed just below the surface of her mind.

"I'll say…"

There was a crash of plastic from the back of the caf; a girl on the way to the trash had dropped her tray and was standing stock still, as though rooted to the to the linoleum.

She was tiny, built like a dancer with the palest skin Bella had ever seen, and dark hair in a pixie cut. And beautiful. _Achingly_ beautiful, like some kind of life-sized china doll.

Right now she looked like an _alarmed_ china doll – her dark eyes were wide, the whites showing almost all the way round and her cupid's bow mouth slack with surprise.

Half the caf was staring at her in outright shock.

One boy at table in one of the back corners, about ten feet from her, was getting to his feet and walking towards her, his face etched with concern. He was beautiful too, and pale, and _unnervingly_ graceful.

When he reached the girl he put an arm around her slight shoulders, bending his head so that his blonde curls fell over his eyes and murmured to her, too low to hear.

She seemed to come back to herself, darting a glance at him and then at the others at their table – a blonde girl who looked like she should have been on a runway in Milan or Paris, a dark-haired boy who was built like tank and handsome the same way large predators are, and another boy with ruffled brassy hair and a furtive expression on his (inevitably) glorious face.

All of them white as sheets, devastatingly attractive, and _causing the hackles on Bella's neck to rise in a line of angry, prickling heat_.

"Who're they?" Bella said, keeping her voice low and watching as the blonde boy escorted his small companion from the room.

"Rosalie Hale, Edward and Emmett Cullen," Adam murmured, and Bella noted he kept a wary eye on them as well. "Alice Cullen is the girl who just left. The guy with her is Jasper Hale, Rosalie's twin."

"They're foster kids," Jessica put in, getting her voice back. "Dr. Cullen and his wife took them in when they were little." She wrinkled her nose. "Jasper's dating Alice and Rosalie's with Emmett."

"The big guy," another girl – Angela? – put in when she saw Bella's questioning look. "Edward's the one with the dark blonde hair."

A voice at the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like Holly piped up, _Oooh scandal!_ Bella bit her lip to keep from grinning.

"And he's dating…?"

"He doesn't date," Jessica put in quickly. "Apparently no one here is up to scratch."

"Oh, really," Bella said faintly, and had to bit her lip again when she caught Adam's knowing smirk.

"No one," Adam confirmed, cutting a quick look at Jessica, who was loftily inspecting her nails.

"His loss," Bella said, and gave Jessica a companionable shoulder bump. She knew she'd made a friend for life with the other girl beamed back at her.

Adam smiled and rolled his eyes at her behind Jess's back, and yes, okay, she probably wasn't an ideal friend, but a few small town friends was better than being a small town loner.

* * *

Biology was a disaster.

Well, okay, as a science it was doing alright, but as Bella's second to last class of the day it was about as fun as being a vegan trapped in a meat-packing plant.

Seriously, _she did not smell bad_. What was this douchebag's problem?

The douchebag in question was Edward Cullen, who was currently leaning away from her like she was single-handedly threatened an onset of the Bubonic Plague just by breathing.

Class hadn't even started yet and she was going to be stuck next to him for the next _hour_!

It was time to write a very angry letter to Holly, who would commiserate entirely and threaten the more sensitive areas of Edward's anatomy. Just the thought of Holly's sympathetic rage had her roughly unpacking her books and actually sending a haughty glare at Edward's profile, although he was so busy being aloof and offended that he probably didn't catch it.

"Hey, Edward."

Edward's eyes narrowed to coal black slits and he turned to look at Adam who was at the table behind them with Angela.

"What?" Edward said, voice painfully level, like he was fighting to keep from tearing Adam into little pieces.

"I promised Bella I'd sit with her, in case she needed any help for this class."

"And?"

"We should swap seats. I'll explain to Mr Banner if he asks," Adam added quickly.

Edward's eyes narrowed further, and Bella held her breath, but then he abruptly packed up his books and darted around the table to Adam's seat and waited with noticeable impatience while the other boy picked up his books.

Adam offered her a smile as he took the seat next to her and shuffled over close enough so that they could be perceived to be sharing notes.

"So, how 'bout that cellular anatomy?"

"I hear it's all the rage," Bella said, writing _thank you!_ on the corner of her notepad.

Adam nodded. "You could be onto something there," and wrote in the margin of his, _you're welcome :)_

* * *

"What is his _problem_?" Adam muttered as he walked Bella to PE.

Bella looked supremely irritated.

"I have no idea." She scowled. "He was acting like I was _diseased_."

"Ignore it," he told her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "He's weird, the whole lot of them are."

She cast him a doubtful look.

"I'm serious. Did you notice at lunch? All of them had full trays in front of them and never ate a thing."

"That happens all the time?"

"Every single day since I've been here. Everyone else just ignores it, but…"

"Weird," Bella murmured, looking thoughtful.

"Yeah."

They walked together in silence for a little while. Both lost in their thoughts.

"Hey, Adam," Bella said, just as she was about to head into the girls' change rooms.

"Yeah?"

She was frowning, face pinched and apprehensive. "When you notice them…do your hackles go up? I mean, do you get this feeling on the back of your neck, kind of burning –"

"Every damn time."

They stared at each other for fraught moment.

"Weird," Bella said, very, very softly.

"Understatement," Adam said back.

* * *

Edward Cullen was in the front office.

_Oh, brilliant._

Bella closed her eyes briefly and went to sit down in one of the chairs two plastic in the reception area. She pulled her battered copy of Nicholas Williamson's _The Wind Singer_ out of her backpack and settled in; Edward was arguing with the woman at reception at looked quite determined to have his way.

When she happened to catch 'biology' and 'switch' her ears perked up without her meaning them to and she half-listened to the hissed conversation; Edward was trying to switch his Biology II class with another time.

What he _serious_? She _didn't smell bad_! ASSHOLE!

His back had stiffened when she'd walked in, but he'd refused to look at her. He sure as hell looked when she smacked the book shut. He glared at her, eyes black as sin and scorchingly angry.

Bella thought firmly of Holly, picturing the smaller girl flying in his face and threatening to scratch his eyes out, and then with deliberate nonchalance, crossed her legs, folded her arms and gave him a single raised eyebrow that perfectly conveyed the sentiment, 'And _what_?'

Edward Cullen's mouth set in a fine white line.

"Never mind," he muttered and blew out of the office like a bat out of hell.

Bella rolled her eyes, handed over her slip to the flustered receptionist and headed for the student car park.

Seriously, the guy was good looking and all, but that was no excuse for behaving like some kind of spoiled prince.

* * *

"Bella!" Charlie was calling up the stairs.

Bella tore herself away from Holly and Dill's latest attempts to teach Toby how to fetch their dad a beer from the fridge and called back, "Yeah?"

"Can you come down here for a sec?"

"What's up?" she asked when she was half-way down the stairs.

"Uh. C'mere. Into the living room." Charlie scrubbed at the back of his head, looking pleased but nervous. "Gotcha something."

Bella made a face at him as she followed him into the living room.

"Dad. You already got me a car you didn't have to get me – OH MY GOD!"

_Books._

There were books _everywhere_.

Well, okay, not _everywhere_, but there were at least three boxes of them – _overflowing _boxes of them. And they were old too, some of them were bound in actual leather with faded gold and silver embossed titles.

When she could move again, Bella stumbled over to them and carefully picked up an ancient copy of _The Hounds of Baskerville_ bound in green leather. She flipped through it and then nearly flipped _out_ when she saw the old woodcut pictures scattered throughout the narrative.

"So," Charlie said, "you like 'em?"

"_Dad_. They're _amazing_!" She grinned at him, elated, and he smiled back. "Where did you get them?"

"Out of storage," he said, sitting on the couch and watching her gently dig through them with a look of evident pleasure. "They used to be your grandma's, but I'm not a great reader, so Lionel Mackey over at the Forks Library's been keeping 'em stored properly for me."

"This is so great," Bella enthused. "Oh my god, all my favourites are here… These are all Gran's books? She read all of these?"

"Yeah…this one, this one here?" Charlie held up a copy of _Swiss Family Robinson_. "My mom read this one to me before bed when I was eight. And this one," _The Hobbit_, "when I was ten."

Bella watched him fondly rubbing a thumb over the book's pebbled red cover, his eyes far away and his smile warm.

"Dad," she said smiling and putting every ounce of affection into it, "_thank you_. This is probably the nicest thing I've ever gotten, really."

Charlie smiled back, then leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"You are so welcome, Bells. I'm glad you like them. You're so like your Gran, y'know, so…it just makes sense you having these."

Bella settled cross-legged next to the coffee table, leaning against the couch. "What was she like?"

"About at tall as you, and I remember having the same hair as you, when I was a kid. Different eyes though; I've got my dad's eyes, and you've got mine. Your Gran had green eyes, real bright green. They used to light up when she was happy, or when she was spitting mad…"

It was probably the longest talk she and Charlie had ever had, and they only stopped because Renée rang, demanding to know why Bella hadn't answered her emails.

* * *

**AN:** So, according to the Twilight wiki Bella is a child of '87. In this fic, she's a child of '90, like Adam. Just FYI. Also, just posting this to see who's interested – I'm amidships with assignments right now, so chapter two might be a while :(


	2. Chapter Two: The Doomsayers

**AN:** Holy crap guys, thanks for all the feedback! I'm on holiday at the mo, so I thought I'd throw you another chapter while I have some time to my onesies.

To answer a few questions: Yes, there will be Winchesters at some point :D as well as a few other SPN characters (but like I'm gonna tell you NOW, pfft). Yes, you will need a basic knowledge of the Twilight Saga…but if the worst comes to the worst just hit up the Twilight Wiki or watch the movies or something – plotwise, canon is only providing a basic framework.

Also: Hi, Mogget and bRamble! Your reviews pretty much made my day (and made me laugh).

* * *

**Chapter Two – The Doomsayers**

In all the years they'd been 'siblings' Edward had never seen Alice like this before.

She'd always been the first to know anything, obviously, and seemed to go through life with a permanent pixie grin on her face because she knew something you didn't know and was itching to see your face when it happened. She was funny and sweet and okay, conflicted, because if you know what's going to happen, how do you interact with the world that's moving in real time?

More to the point, how do you keep your mind-reading brother doing the same?

Every time Alice had a vision in close proximity to Edward, he got it too. He'd gotten the one she'd seen when Adam Milligan had started at Forks High School…

Adam's mind was hidden beneath a shroud and he smelt like a human spice rack, bringing back all those painful memories of sitting in the kitchen while his mother gossiped with their cook and helped bake for the family the night before Christmas. He smelled like home, and long forgotten family, and _food_. The very best kind of food…

Then Alice's brain had been lit up by a vision of Edward, luring Adam away from the school, cornering him, saying over and over, _I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry it won't hurt I'm sorry please please please…_

Edward had skipped the rest of the day and sat shaking, _actually shaking_ in a far off part of the woods where no hint of Adam's scent could reach him. It was the first time he'd had such a violent, uncontrollable, _physical_ reaction to anything in _years_.

It scared him.

He'd been careful after that. Very careful, making sure to stay well fed, taking deer when they couldn't make it up into the mountains for bears and lions. Sated, it was easier to bear the temptation. His family was careful with him too – making sure not to mention that it really was just him affected like this. No one else's appetite went into overdrive and was tempted to tear the boy's throat out in a fit of bloodlust.

Just Edward.

It was _awful_.

It had gotten exponentially worse when Bella Swan came back to town.

If Adam was a spice rack, Bella was a bouquet.

He'd caught the barest hint of her and suddenly remembered, with terrifying clarity, the exact taste of candied violets.

Not only that, the second Bella had set foot in Forks, Alice had been a live wire. Her usual energy and spunk had become frenetic and she'd moved about the house and surrounding woods like she was searching for something but had no idea what. Jasper was at his wits end trying to comfort her and get her to open up about what was disturbing her, but all she would say was, "it's not for sure. It…it might not… It's just not for sure, okay?"

She'd pathologically avoided getting close to Edward, refusing to let her visions spill over to him.

Until that time in the caf.

Until Adam Milligan shook Bella Swan's hand, and Alice stood rooted to the spot, immobilized by the force of her vision.

_Sparks._

_Sparks rising on a high wind, on a hot blast of air, on a fever-cool gust of breath._

_Eyes lit with them, hair tousling and littered with light, fireflies gathering under skin and nails and rising from the earth at their feet._

_Their hearts beat in sync, and it sounds like the roar of a storm._

Alice was a wreck afterwards and Edward was barely much better. Jasper had taken Alice home, but Edward had foolishly tried to stick it out because he'd discovered something very strange.

Adam wasn't the only one with a veiled mind.

Bella was hidden from him too.

* * *

They didn't go to school the next day.

Well, he and Alice didn't – Jasper took a note in with him explaining that the pair of them had caught a stomach bug and were probably going to be out for the next week with it.

They went hunting instead, taking deer but staying close to the house and each other. They fed and fed, until they were full as ticks and curled up together in the damp foliage, peering up at the grey sky through a frame of ferns and the crowns of pine trees.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Edward murmured. Alice pressed her face into his shoulder and sighed. She sounded ragged, tired, and it worried him.

"I don't know," she muttered back. "Every time I get a vision of them now it's just sparks – just that storm and them in the middle. I can see the futures of those _around_ them, but anything specific to _them_…"

"Sparks."

"Yeah. Like they're being shielded."

"But you can still see us? You can still see our family?"

She nodded, dark hair brushing the underside of his jaw with the motion.

"Yes."

Pause.

"Is there any reason we're having this conversation out loud instead of you just reading my mind, like normal?"

"I was being polite."

Alice snickered. "Thanks. I don't mind though. I've never minded." _I like that we can sort of talk without anyone noticing._

Edward smiled. "I know."

_Will you be okay? At school, I mean. Rose said that Bella and Adam were hanging out just about the whole time they were at school…and it was hard enough with just Adam…_

He sighed heavily. "I'll just have to take precautions."

She spun out memories today's hunt, glutting themselves on deer instead of letting the hunger wax and wane until they could get away into the mountains and find more interesting prey. _Those precautions?_

"Yes." He frowned. "I was sloppy, before Bella came. I was getting used to being around Adam, and I thought I could last until the next trip to the mountains… But I couldn't. I won't let that happen again." He closed his eyes. "I don't want to be a monster."

Alice sat up, now luminous eyes fixed on his. Her tiny elegant face was as serious as he'd ever seen it.

"You won't be," she said. "I won't let it happen."

"You can't promise that," he murmured, smiling a little to take the sting out of it. "But I know you'll try."

She studied his face, small and solemn.

_When the time comes…__**if**__ the time comes, I __**will**__ be there, Edward, and I will stop you._

"Alice…"

_Promise,_ she thought firmly at him, throwing her spindly arms around him as he sat up.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Edward sighed, hugging her back.

* * *

They decided to attend school the day after. Esme was not enthused of the idea; she took her role as their mother very seriously. Seeing Edward so affected had upset her and Alice's mad spell trying to avoid the 'spark' vision had been an exercise in pain.

"Are you sure?" she said as they all piled into the Volvo. Her anxious eyes found Edward's. "You could take an extra day, you know."

Edward hugged her. "We'll be fine, Es, honestly."

"I just want to make sure you're okay," she said against his shoulder.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Emmett demanded from the front passenger seat. "We'll keep him on the straight and narrow, Mom, don't sweat it."

Rosalie smacked him. Esme laughed. Edward hoped to God Emmett was right.

* * *

Biology.

Edward didn't swear often, but this class was nearly just cause.

Mr Banner was in the habit of putting a fan on at the front of class to keep the damp air from stagnating if the AC decided to give up the ghost. Today, it was the fan that had nearly given up the ghost; the mechanism that made it swing from side to side was broken, so the fan was fixed facing Adam and Bella's desk…

…blowing their collective delicious scents back straight into Edward's face.

Biology. Torture. The two words were rapidly becoming synonymous.

Although…

There was additional note to the perfume now.

Something..._electric_. It tickled in the back of his throat, tingled over his skin and sang down his nerves. It made him wary, sharp-eyed, shark-toothed.

They smelt like a storm, and Edward couldn't help but see sparks ripping across the backs of his eyelids.

He sat rigidly through the beginning of class and made sure to keep from snapping at Angela when she asked to borrow his red pen for her notes. He liked Angela; she had a very sensible, restful brain for a teenage girl. Working next to her was far easier than trying to cope with Jessica or Mike's manic minds in Geography. Angela was quiet on the outside too though, so it was a surprise when she said halfway through class, very quietly, "Are you okay?"

Edward stared at her. The question was obviously spur-of-the-moment; he'd barely caught the thought before she'd spoken aloud.

"I'm fine," he said, and gave her a small smile.

Angela pinked across her cheekbones and nodded, looking back down at her notes.

"Why do you ask?" he added.

She shook her head a little. "You've just been quieter than usual. And, um…" _And last time we had this class you totally looked like you were going to set us all on fire with the power of your mind._

He wanted to laugh, _so much_. If only she'd said it out loud...but Angie was just too nice for that, bless her.

His smile turned rueful. "Yeah. I wasn't having the greatest day last time you saw me."

"You've been sick though, right?"

"Yes. Alice and I both got a stomach bug."

"Maybe you were just feeling under the weather and didn't know you sick yet?"

He grinned down at his notes, looking away from her; the sudden abundance of eye contact was making her flustered.

"You're being kind, Angela."

She smiled too, her face still a little pink, and shook her head. They worked in companionable silence for a while, Angie focused on the functions of red blood cells in mammals while Edward focussed on not vaulting the bench and sinking his teeth into either of the occupants of the bench in front of them.

God, _why_?

God, as per usual, had very little to say on the matter (which probably explained Edward's next flight of mad fancy).

He spent a good fifteen minutes pressing at Bella and Adam's veiled minds, trying to find a way in, hunting for an entrance like he never had before. He wanted an explanation; he wanted to know what it was about these two that made them so appealing to him and hid their minds from his ability. His pressing was in vain, however. They remained a mystery to him. He was _determined_ to find out more about them.

He waited until Mr Banner had completed his patrol of the room and returned to his desk before whispering, "Angie?"

She looked up at him, enquiring.

"Do you think Adam will swap seats with me next class?"

Her apprehension was immediate and obvious. She looked a little alarmed actually. "Um…"

"I want to apologize," he explained, "to Bella."

_Oh my God_, thought Angie. _This will not end well._

Edward wondered if she were a little telepathic too.

"Well…" Angie said out loud. "It's a nice idea. I mean you were kind of…"

"I was impolite to her," Edward acknowledged, "which is inexcusable, even if I was sick. I want to make it up to her."

"It's not me you have to convince," Angie said, sensibly.

"I know." He smiled at her, trying for hesitant. "Put a good word in for me?"

Her eyebrows climbed up her forehead and her thoughts were less than impressed. Edward was a little surprised; most girls her age would have capitulated…but then most girls were rather, well, _shallow_.

"Please, Angie?"

"Okay," she said eventually, "but you have to be my lab partner for our next project; I had George Powell last time. My grade average might not survive another round of…_that_."

"Oh, Angie," Edward said, putting his hand to his heart, "say no more. I am at your service."

"Yes, very funny," she said softly, smiling and looking back at her notes. "Just be nice this time, okay?"

"You have my word."

And he would, he promised himself. He would be nice. He would be sane. He would not cause a bloodbath in the middle of a class discussion on cellular anomalies.

(Fingers crossed.)

* * *

**AN:** Next chapter I'm thinking will either be from Adam's point of view or back to Bella's depending on where the story goes. So, whatcha think?


	3. Chapter Three: Wayward Son

**AN:** Because I'm oh-so-casually futzing with Bella's age to match her with Adam, the events of the Saga will also swing forwards, spanning 2007 to 2009 instead of 2005 to 2007. SPN-wise, this means that around the time Bella and Adam meet, Sam and Dean are in Rhode Island investigating and 'angel' of death that turns out to be a preacher's spirit gone vigilante.

Also, points to anyone who can guess what this fic is named after…

* * *

**Chapter Three – Wayward Son**

His mom had been quiet lately. Adam knew it had to do with his dad; it _always_ had to do with John, but this was…

This time he was worried, because _she_ seemed worried.

Through a small gap in the kitchen door he could see her sitting on the sofa with bills and letters and even a few open books lying in front of her on the coffee table. But out of all those papers and paraphernalia there was one crumpled set of pages that she would not put down. She flattened them on the table top and smoothed them with her fingertips, then, gripping them tight, read them with hasty eyes. Like she'd done it dozens of times before.

When Adam got a glimpse of the pages contents it was in his father's boxy tradesman's handwriting; hectic notes and diagrams, cross-outs and corrections evident even in the dim light of the corner table lamp and his mother's laptop.

It was not the first time he'd seen those pages, but he hadn't gathered the courage to ask her about them and he refused to go snooping through her things looking for those pages when she was on a late shift at the ED.

Still. He hated not knowing.

He hated being reminded of his dad like this; hated that it was hurting his mom.

Hated that after all this time he still missed the guy.

He cleared his throat and called out, "Mom, popcorn's done; I'm heading up, okay?"

Kate startled and looked up as Adam pushed the door open and put his head around it, then gave him a weak smile and nodded. She looked tired.

"Okay, hon, enjoy your movie."

"You need anything?"

"No, I'm good. Night, sweetheart."

"Night, Mom."

He turned and went upstairs, breathing through his nose and trying to concentrate on the scent of the popcorn.

In his room a figure was standing in front of his bookshelf, examining his science fair prizes and the spines of his DVD collection, mixed through with his novels and old medical journals.

"Hey," Adam said, "see something you like?"

Bella turned, her banner of russet hair drifting over one shoulder. She smirked, holding up his boxset of _Firefly_ in one hand like it was a smoking gun.

"You really _are_ a nerd, huh?"

"Don't mock," Adam told her seriously. "Whedon's like the only one who got the whole there's-actually-no-air-in-space-so-of-course-you-can't-hear-the-spaceships-during-an-exterior-shot thing right."

One of Bella's eyebrows went up.

"Respect the science, Bells, and respect the Sci-Fi."

She grinned, rolling her eyes. "I have total respect for the science. And the Sci-Fi."

This time Adam gave _her_ a look.

"Most of the time," she amended. "Speaking of, enough with the secretive crap. What's this movie I just _have_ to see?"

"Okay, well, you know Ridley Scott?"

Bella narrowed her dark eyes. "He's ringing a bell."

"He's a director. You know, _Alien_? _Black Hawk Down_? _Gladiator_?"

"Oh God."

"Don't make that face. This is one of his best ones," Adam continued, digging through his shelves and pulling out a DVD. He held it out to her. "And I got the Director's Cut version, too."

Bella was inspecting the case. "_Blade Runner_?"

"Uh huh."

"Adam, I don't know…"

"Look, you watch this and I solemnly swear to sit through the whole of the BBC's production of _Pride and Prejudice_ with you."

Bella stared at him. Her lips twitched with the beginnings of a smile.

"No way…" she whispered. "How do you even know there was a BBC production of _Pride and Prejudice_? You're a _dude_!"

"…I may have got it on DVD for my mom for her last birthday."

Bella was full on grinning now.

"Oh. My. God."

"Do we have a deal?"

"You bet your ass we do."

They spend the next hour crashed out on Adam's bed, facing his desk with his computer doubling as a DVD player and following the exploits of Richard Deckard (Bella with rapt attention).

It was nice. Adam had been a little worried he wouldn't be able to make friends in a town like Forks, where just about all the kids at the tiny high school knew each other from the local kindergarten and had practically grown up together. Windom had maybe fifteen hundred people over Forks and Adam had gone to a high school just a little bigger than Forks High; he had seen how hard it was for new kids to integrate into a little community like that. He felt bad now for not making more of an effort back then, when he had been the kid with all the friends from kindergarten.

Admittedly, it wasn't as bad as he'd thought – his position as something of a novelty had at least gotten him talked to, and a few interested looks from a few girls (and Edward Cullen that one time but Adam didn't like to think about that because Cullen and his siblings had freaky eyes and made the hair on the back of his neck stand up) – but he hadn't really clicked with anyone.

And then, there was Bella.

_Click._

It felt like they'd been friends for years, not days. He trusted her, and felt like she trusted him too. He felt like he could tell her things he hadn't ever told his friends back in Windom. Occasionally, it freaked him out a little, but when he'd told his mom she'd just smiled and said, "Sometimes it's just like that, honey, sometimes it's just as easy as breathing."

Easy as breathing. Easy.

Maybe that's why, during a self-imposed intermission, Adam found himself murmuring, "Hey, Bella? Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, I think it's feasible that Edward Cullen is totally gay for you."

Adam stared at her. "What?"

Bella blinked back at him and said innocently, "Was that not what you were gonna ask?"

"No!"

"Oh. Oops." She gave him a look of solemn interest. "Continue."

Adam narrowed his eyes at her. "…Fine. But we're coming back to…_that_ later."

She smiled. "Of course we are. What was your actual question?"

Adam cleared his throat and looked down at his hands, picking at his bedspread, suddenly a little uncertain. It was a personal question after all.

"Do you think…? I mean, did your mom ever miss your dad, after you guys moved away?"

He looked up when Bella remained silent for so long, afraid he'd offended her, but she was gazing thoughtfully out his window, calmly watching the rain scatter over the driveway and through the swaying pines.

"I think so," she said softly, then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, she definitely did. I think she still loved him for a long time after that."

"Enough that she might have gone back? Or thought about it?"

Her gaze switched from the rain to him, her eyes sad.

"Forget I asked," Adam backtracked. "Bells, I'm sorry, I shouldn't –"

"No," she said quickly. "No, it's fine, it's just… I haven't thought about it in a while and I…"

She sighed, running one hand over her forehead and brushing her hair back.

"I think… I think, if she'd been a different person, she might have gone back to him or spent more time trying to convince him to move out to Cali when we lived with Gran. But…I don't think how much she loved him was the problem… I think it was just that our life worked the way it was, and she knew that she'd never get Charlie out of Forks."

"Not for love nor money, huh?"

She smiled. "Yeah."

When her eyes found his again they were shrewd.

"Why do you ask?"

Adam went back to picking at his bedspread. "Year and a half of radio silence kind of makes you wonder, y'know? What could possibly keep a roadie mechanic so busy he can't even get to a _phone_?"

"He hasn't even called you guys?" Bella breathed, incredulous. "God. I mean I know you said you didn't see him very often but…"

"It used to be different," Adam muttered. "I hardly saw him, but he called every other week unless he got snowed under with a job."

"So you thought he was snowed under again?" Bella asked, "And that's why he wasn't calling?"

"Yeah. But then weeks turned into months, and then it was a year since we'd heard anything from him…" He sighed through his nose, feeling his gut tighten. "It's too long for it to be a job."

When he met Bella's eyes she was watching him, expression sharp with realization.

"You think something's happened to him," she said. "That's why he hasn't come back or called."

"No, I…"

"Yes," Bella said gently, her face softening. "Yes, because you know he cares enough about you and your mom to come back. And if he hasn't…"

"If hasn't then he's stuck somewhere or he's dead," Adam said, voice a little thicker than he meant it to be. "And my mom's going to get her heart broken. Again."

Bella watched him for a moment, then leant down and press her forehead against his. Adam closed his eyes when she pressed her palm to his cheek. He could feel her breath, warm against his mouth.

"Whatever happens," she murmured, "I'm here."

"I know."

* * *

In the dream _he was filled with light. It shone from him, from inside him, bright blue sparks spilling from under his fingernails, shaken from his hair, dancing in clouds from his every breath._

_Before him stood Bella, wreathed in gold. Smiling._

_She reached for him gold and white sparks falling in a cascade of light from her fingertips, her flesh lit up so brightly he could see the ruby lines of her veins and the brass shadows of her bones. She reached for him, touching his face._

_Their lips met and the world went white._

Adam woke laughing, his skin tingling and his heart thudding, and had no idea why.

* * *

School was persistently average after the weekend. Adam tried to put his dad out of his mind and focus on his school work.

And Bella.

And the persistent interest of at least four boys, other than himself, in Bella (prom was admittedly approaching, but seriously, cool your jets guys, goddamn).

And trying _not_ to focus on Edward Cullen's persistent interest in both himself and Bella which was really starting to get a little be creepy, especially in light of Bella's not-so-innocent comment yesterday.

It did, however, bear dealing with. Just not with Bella, who would laugh at him.

An opportunity came up late in the day, during his study period…

"So," Adam said to Angela with the air of someone adding catalyst to an unknown chemical combination, "Bella thinks Cullen's totally gay for me."

Angela looked up from her English notes, _Exorcist_-slow and stared at him, brown eyes startled.

"What?" she said. At least she'd kept her voice low.

"Bella. Thinks Cullen wants my body."

"No, I heard you, I just…wow." She tilted her head to one side, thoughtful. "That would explain a few things."

"…_excuse me_?"

"Was that not the answer you were expecting?" Angela asked solicitously.

_It's a conspiracy_, Adam thought savagely.

"No," Adam snapped. "You're supposed to comfort me and say, 'no, of course not, he can't possibly be gay for you, Bella is cruelly toying with you.' Or something."

"I can't imagine why she would toy with you," Angela said reasonably. "But then I suppose you know her a bit better. You two do seem close."

Adam ignored the offer to discuss his relationship with his clearly tricksy friend and said, "Seriously, do you think he's gay for me?"

"Is that a problem?"

"What? No, I just…uh…it's kind of creepy?"

Angela gave him a disapproving look. "Homophobia is a refuge of a weak and fearful mind, Adam."

Which was interesting, coming from the daughter of a preacher.

"No! No, no, I'm not a homophobe, Ang, I have friends who're gay. It's just… it's not the gay that's creepy, it's the Cullen."

Angela blinked at him. "Oh. You don't like him?"

"Honestly?" Adam rubbed at the back of his neck; he was getting a phantom cold spot there from just thinking about Cullen and his strange eyes. "He kinda freaks me out."

Angela bit her lip, clearly torn. "Well, sometimes he can be a bit…odd. But you can't help how you feel," she acknowledged. "Do you want me to talk to him?"

Adam quickly shook his head. "No, no, that's okay… I mean it's not like it's just me, right?"

"…you think he's gay for someone else as well?" Angela asked, curious (but fighting a smile; Adam had the sneaking suspicion she had spent the majority of the conversation pulling his leg).

"Uh…no. I just mean…have you noticed him watching Bella, a bit?"

Angela looked… No, _really_?

She looked _guilty_.

"Well, yes," she said. "But I think he feels bad about not wanting to sit with her on her first day. He told me last time we had Bio II that he wants to apologise to her."

Adam felt his eyes narrow with automatic suspicion. "Oh really?"

Angela nodded. "He asked if you would swap seats for the next class, so he could talk to her."

_Oh-ho, conspiring with the enemy, are we?_

"Did he now?"

"Adam."

"What?"

"Is this meant to be an impersonation of the Count of Monte Cristo or are you just naturally this suspicious and maniacal?"

Adam made an effort to appear less suspicious and maniacal and said, "I just don't trust the dude, y'know?"

"Well, to be fair, you don't know him that well. I wouldn't expect you to."

Adam wanted to say that, actually, he was a pretty trusting guy, but when a dude eyes you up like you're a piece of meat on a semi-regular basis and then treats your best friend like she's contagious on her first day he'd trust them about as far as he could throw them.

Adam reckoned, if he really put his back into it, he could throw Edward Cullen about three feet. Maybe.

That's not a lot of trust.

Instead of saying this, he sensibly kept quiet and nodded at Angie. There was a pause as the pair of them went back to their school work.

Then, "Adam."

Adam looked up from the exploits of Chaucer's pilgrims to find Angie wearing her Very Serious Face.

"I trust him."

"Okay…"

"And I think you should swap seats with him; let him apologise to Bella."

"Angie…"

"She's my friend too, you know," she tells him, "and I don't want my friends to be unhappy with each other. Imagine how awkward it would make my birthday parties."

Adam returned her brief smile.

"And…it can't hurt to let him try. He might surprise you."

_Yeah right_, he thought. "Yeah, maybe. But you owe me."

Angie raised her eyebrows at him, enquiring. "Oh?"

"Yeah, for when Bella kicks my ass for this."

"…Deal."

* * *

That night, for the first time in what felt like a long time, Adam made a call.

"…_this is John. Leave me a message or call Singer if it's urgent."_

Needless to say, Adam did not have 'Singer's number. His life, and his mother's might have been significantly less stressful it he had.

"Hey," he said, keeping his voice low and mindful of his mother similarly getting ready for bed just down the hall, "its Adam again, obviously… Don't really know why I'm calling again, but…felt like I needed to.

He rubbed a hand over his face. His eyes ached; too long reading by the dim light of his desk lamp and he felt tired down to his bones.

And homesick.

"Look, I know I've said this before, but we could really do with seeing you. If you can get here, I mean, which I'm starting to think you can't. Mom…Mom seems worried about something and for once I don't feel like I can talk to her about it. Mostly because I'm pretty sure it's you that she's worried about. She's got some papers of yours or whatever, and she keeps reading them and getting this look on her face…

"Dad, please, just…just tell me if you're alive or not, at least. Even just that and I'll be happy.

"…bye."

* * *

**AN:** I know I'm sort of meandering here, but I wanted you guys to get a good look at Adam before we get to Edward's chat with Bella…and I really want that particular chapter to be from her POV lol. As usual, let me know whatcha think!


	4. Chapter Four: This is Not a Test

**AN:** My dashing darling and stunning sweethearts! The feedback, THE FEEDBACK, you guys are just amazing – and I'm so glad you're all enjoying yourselves! Now, y'know how I gave Bella a personality? Well, turns out it was one with a temper. The phrase 'reap the whirlwind' comes to mind…

* * *

**Chapter Four – This is Not a Test**

_It's been a good sort of day so far_, Bella thought as she made her way to Bio II.

She and Charlie had by this point worked out a time in the mornings where their routines crossed over so they could have breakfast together and were all the happier for it. He'd surprised her this morning with a small electric blue thermos, so she could bring tea or hot chocolate to school with her. She'd indulged at lunch today and something about being able to have homemade cocoa with her sandwiches put her in an exceptional good mood.

Add to that, Adam was still making that face sour-puss whenever he caught Edward Cullen looking their way, and then ratcheting it right up to constipated-with-horror when he turned to Bella and she bounced her eyebrows at him.

"He's totally warm for your form, dude," she said at lunch, grinning.

Adam groaned. "What is this, the _Nineties_? You can't go 'round _saying_ crap like that anymore, Bells."

"But I'm totally hip and down with it," she'd protested, laughing when Adam groaned again and hid his face in his hands.

All of this though, went out the freaking window when she turned the corner and came through the door to the bio lab.

What.

_**What.**_

In the seat by the window, which should have held Adam, was Edward _Goddamn_ Cullen.

(Overhead, several of the light fitting fizzed dangerously. In the English classroom down the hall Alice's head came up and her hand tightened dangerously on the edge of her desk. In Springfield, Ohio, a university janitor who wasn't a janitor at all sat up and let his feet fall off his coffee table with a thump. "_Huh_," he said turning his head west-by-north-west.)

She shot a betrayed look to the bench behind hers, to where Adam was sitting in Cullen's usual seat. He gave her a helpless look back and Angie shot her a surprisingly guilty but resolved face. That definitely bore further investigation…when she could corner them at some point.

Cullen, however, bore his usual blank face, although this became a small smile when his eyes met hers.

_Huh._

That was new; weren't his eyes black last time she'd been this close to him? She was sure they had been…

In any case, while this potentially new colour was certainly less threatening, it didn't diminish from the fact that the asshat was sitting at where she most certainly _did not_ want him. Worse, she heard Mr Banner's distinct tread behind her – he was forever wearing those awful loafers – and knew that she did not have the time to do anything about amending the seating arrangement.

She speared Adam and Angie with another, more caustic look, and mouthed, 'you'll keep,' at them just before she sat down. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Adam making frantic 'this is not my fault!' gestures. She ignored him, and, furiously channelling Holly at her most outraged, began unpacking her folder and textbook with unnecessary but satisfying violence.

She heard Cullen clear his throat beside her, trying to get her attention, and ignored him.

"Bella…"

_Oh, really?_

She turned to him, eyeing him archly. "Yes?"

Well, would you look at that; he actually looked a little flustered.

"I, uh, I asked Adam to swap with me today," he said.

"Did you now," Bella responded, eyes narrowing dangerously. "Why would you do that?"

"I want to apologise," he said, manner steadying as he got back some of his regular cold confidence, although from the looks of things he was trying for solicitousness, "for how I treated you on your first day."

There was a pause as he waited for her to respond. Admittedly, Bella was a little taken back; she hadn't expected any further interaction between herself and Edward Cullen, let alone an apology, but here they were.

Still. Didn't mean she couldn't make him work for it. (Bella was on the whole a nice person, but there's this saying about a woman scorned which is surprisingly accurate and entirely applicable.)

"Well," Bella prompted. "I'm waiting."

"Oh," Edward said, "right." He cleared his throat again. "Bella, I'm truly sorry for how I treated you on your first day here. It was very rude of me and I shouldn't have taken my frustrations out on you like that."

Bella turned on him like a pit-bull on a bloody steak.

"Rude?" she hissed, low and furious and honestly just shy of going for the jugular. She was gratified to see him leaning back slightly, chalky face pulling into anxious lines. "_Rude_? You are so lucky, _so lucky_ that I didn't take your behaviour to heart and that I had friends to tell me to ignore you and your _crap_! You treated me like I was diseased, you actively avoided me and you kept glaring at me like I was offending you by existing and it's taken you _two weeks_ to apologise for that!"

(One of the lights flickered and went out. Mr Banner glared at it and muttered about the school budget. Adam swallowed a yelp at the feeling of a static shock blasting violently up both is median nerves.)

"Bella, I – truly I'm so sorry. I don't even know why I acted like that."

"Whatever," she snapped, sitting back and glaring down at her books. She pushed her hair back and took a cleansing breath. "I'm only accepting you apology so we can both attend Angie's birthday."

"You don't forgive me then," he murmured, soft and perhaps a little melancholic.

She cut a quick sidelong look at him. "Forgiveness is something you earn," she said. "You want it, start earning."

* * *

"I'm disowning the pair of you," Bella announced as she made her way to Gym with Adam and Angie.

"This is not my fault!" Adam insisted, flinging his arms up.

"No," Angie murmured calmly, "it's mine, although I maintain that I did this so there wouldn't be any lingering awkwardness…"

"I'm gonna go with a 'fail' on that front," Adam said and Bella let out an inelegant snort of agreement. Angie sighed.

"He can be a bit pompous," she conceded. "But I do think that the apology was genuine, Bella."

This time Bella sighed. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Wait," she said, coming to a halt as something occurred to her. "Does this mean we have to hang out with him?"

"God no," Adam said fervently.

"Now, Adam, just because you're uncomfortable with his feelings for –"

"Hurry up losers, we've got Gym!" Jess said, ploughing into them. "Wait, who're we not hanging out with?"

"Cullen," Adam muttered at the same time Angie said, "Edward."

"God, I don't know if I could cope," Jess exclaimed, linking arms with the girls and dragging them along. Bella couldn't help grinning; sometimes Jessica's self-centeredness was just hilarious. "I mean he's so, _mmm_, so hot."

"Uh, _what_?" Adam said, incredulous. "He has freaky eyes!"

Bella suddenly remembered – Cullen's eyes had been _different_ today; sort of gold-hazel instead of black. Had he gotten contacts or something? It hadn't really looked like contacts…

"_So_," Jess was saying, "just because he needs like, _fifty_ personality transplants doesn't take away from the fact that he probably has abs you could grate cheese on."

Adam's appalled face was something that should be photographed from multiple angles and framed. Cullen's freaky eyes forgotten, she clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing so hard she broke something.

"What's funny?" Mike asked when he met them at the door to the gymnasium.

"Edward Cullen," Bella said.

Mike looked immediately uncomfortable. He'd probably seen her…conversation…with the other boy in Bio and gone off to have a sulk before class – usually he walked with them to Gym.

"I don't get it," he said, looking a little pinched around the eyes.

"Be thankful," Adam said, "c'mon, man, let's just go. The oestrogen's making them crazy."

"Uh, you guys go ahead," Mike said, eyes suddenly latching on to Bella. _Crap._ "Bella, could um, could I talk to you? In private?"

"Sure," she said, going for nonchalance. Over Mike's shoulder she could see Angie leading Jess away – this did not stop Jess making sad kitten faces at her as she disappeared through the gymnasium doors. Adam rolled his eyes at her, mouthed, 'good luck' and went too.

"So," Mike started off, shoving his hands in his hoody pockets, and Bella instantly knew where this was going.

_Boys. Honestly._

"There's the girls' choice dance coming up and –"

"Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about," Bella interrupted and winced internally at the look of poorly masked happiness on his face.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Bella leaned forward and said conspiratorially, "So listen, I was talking to Jessica, and I think she's going to ask you!" She grinned like it was the best news she'd heard all week – and actually, considering how much…notice…Mike had been paying her lately, it just might have been.

Mike's face fell, though he tried to hide it. "Oh. Uh, that's…great. That's really great, but I thought…"

She gave him an enquiring look, playing dumb to the last.

"Have you…have you asked anyone yet?" he ventured.

Bella frowned. "Why would I? I'm not going to the dance."

"What? Why?"

"There's a thing on in Seattle that I want to go see that weekend," Bella said – which was technically true. There was a bookshop in Seattle that got new stock each weekend and had a lot of rare books available, as well as limited imports. She didn't _have_ to go the weekend of the dance…but she wanted to. "Adam's driving me there."

Mike's eyes narrowed and then widened in realization. Bella wasn't about to correct him.

"Right. Adam," he said, looking dejected. "So, uh, I guess I should talk to Jess, right? I mean if you think she's going to…"

"Let me talk to her first," Bella said, thinking fast – she hadn't actually talked to Jessica about it…yet. "She'll be more likely to ask if she knows she's going to get a good answer. You'll say yes, right?"

"Yeah…yeah." Mike nodded, still looking a bit put out but perking up at the idea of a girl liking him.

"Awesome!" Bella enthused, silently thanking whatever deity might have been listening in. "Let's go, before Coach Clapp has kittens or something."

* * *

The next morning dawned…well, not bright exactly. More like a sort of diffused grey that had aspirations to being bright.

Also, there was snow.

Bella eyed it in disgust. This was not the crisp fluffy snow that filled Christmas cards and Hollywood movies and picturesque European villages – this was like failed paper mâché put through a blender and then distributed with an overly aggressive wind tunnel.

Frigging Washington.

Charlie had left early that morning – there was a note on the fridge about an accident on the highway, out past the municipal airport. No surprise there.

What did surprise her was seeing the chains on her truck's tyres when she got to school. Charlie must have put them on last night.

"You okay?" Adam asked. Bella had taken to picking him up on the mornings when the weather was awful (which was about every second day in her estimation).

She smiled, realizing she was looking a bit misty as well as feeling it.

"Yeah. It's just…" She gestured to the chains. "I'm not used to being looked after, y'know?"

Adam smiled, and opened his mouth to answer when there was a yell of horror from the other side of the parking lot, followed seconds later by the squeal of straining tyres from behind them.

Adam turned and Bella with him – Tyler Crowley looked back at them in horror as his van skidded out of control across the ice and straight towards them.

Bella had a confused moment to think 'what…?' before Adam was grabbing her and pulling her close –

_Sparks across her vision like a million and one fireflies in a high wind._

_Gold around her, blue around him, white where they collide._

_Heat across her bare skin where they touch._

– She raised a hand as if to fend off the oncoming collision.

Screams filled the parking lot.

Adam gasped against her forehead.

And then there was a concussive blast as the world went white.

* * *

**AN:** So! Cliffhanger! Don't think I've done that before on this fic. How's everyone feel about it?


	5. Chapter Five: Fire in the Sky

**AN:** LOL, oh my god, the reviews I got for the last chapter. You guys are so cute when you're all wound up. Buuuuuuut I figured I better put you out of your misery before someone crawled under a desk and committed hara-kiri or something. So! Without further ado, here's chapter five!

* * *

**Chapter Five – Fire in the Sky**

For a moment, it was like the world was spinning in slow motion.

Angela could see, with crystalline, terrifying clarity, as Tyler lost control of his van, causing it to skid over the icy blacktop, straight towards two of her friends.

"No," she breathed, and heard the word echoed in a yell behind her as the van's tyres began squealing, trying to gain traction on the treacherous ground.

There was the sound of struggling behind her, Edward's voice snarling, "Let me go! I have to –" while just in front of her, she saw Alice Cullen gasp, blood flowing sluggishly from her nose. Her knees folded like wet paper, gold eyes wide as she collapsed into her boyfriend's arms.

But this was all peripheral.

The lot filled with helpless screams as the van careened towards Adam and Bella – Angie thought she saw sparks fly up in a flurry from the vehicles as they closed together – and then there was an explosion.

_An explosion._

It was like a flash grenade going off as metal screamed against metal, glass shattered, the air rent not with the smell of burning, but of ozone and lightning. For a few confused moments everything smelt of a breaking storm.

Instinct took over, and Angie was running towards the blast site the second the flash faded, trying to blink away the afterimages that blotted her vision.

"Angie, what are you doing?" Jess shouted, hysterical, as Mike called, "Wait!"

She ignored them. She had to get to Adam and Bella.

There was no heat, which she wasn't expecting. Steam was rising from the twisted wreckage, but only faint wisps of it where the paintwork on both vehicles had bubbled. She could hear Tyler groaning and immediately felt guilty for not thinking of him too. She went round to the other side of the van, calling his name and tried to pry open the driver's side door. It was stuck, the whole van bowed out of shape somehow.

"Let me," said a tense voice at her shoulder. She started, then stepped back when Edward gently tugged her away and yanked the door open. Angie scrambled up and unbuckled Tyler's seatbelt, checking his pulse and gently brushing glass fragments from his face. He groaned and peered at her.

"…Angie?"

"Yeah. Don't move okay? We're…someone's called the ambulance." She swallowed hard. There were cuts all over him from the broken glass, but no burns that she could see. "I'm going to check on…on the others."

"Bella," Tyler gasped. "Adam. I saw them before… Are they…?"

"I don't know, I… just stay here, Ty."

She got down again and slipped past Edward, looking for a way to climb up and see in between the van and Bella's truck.

"Angie," Edward said, "Angie, wait." Cold hands drew her around to the hood of Bella's truck. "Here, let me help."

Ignoring the others that were beginning to approach and the frantic calling of arriving teachers, Edward boosted her up on the remains of the old Chevy's nose and then vaulted up after her.

The paint here was blackened, covered in soot. The cars' metal frames were interlocked and melted together in places, knotted like arthritic fingers. But, at the centre of the steel and glass carnage, like the eye of the storm, in a nest of blasted pieces…

Were Adam and Bella.

Whole.

Alive.

_And untouched._

They crouched, wrapped around each other, peering with wide eyes up at them and looking almost as shocked to see Angie and Edward as Angie was to see them.

"It's not possible," Edward whispered.

Somehow, he didn't seem surprised.

* * *

Things passed in a whirling blur after that.

Edward helped her climb down off the wreckage of the two cars after the EMTs and Bella's dad arrived. Chief Swan moved anxiously back and forth on the side-lines, occasionally approaching the half-melted pile of metal to call through to his daughter. Bella's responses were steady and clear, but she still sounded shaken, unhappy.

One of the EMT's, Brett Warner, climbed up on the truck's hood like she and Edward had done and examined both the patients and the wrecked, calling down that it was too risking to get them to clamber up and over the hood to get out – there was too much sharp exposed metal and the pocket they were curled up in was too narrow for them to safely manoeuvre in.

It was clear they were going to have to cut them out of there.

The Clallam Volunteer Fire Department arrived fifteen minutes later with the jaws of life, ear muffs were handed down to Adam and Bella and the lot was filled with the roar and shriek of the blade taking a sizable wedge out of Tyler's Van. They simply cut the middle out of it, leaving only the floor and axels. Adam and Bella were gently extracted, Bella going straight into her father's arms and then both of them being led away to the waiting ambulance.

Alice Cullen was being taken as well. She was bundled up in a blanket and her boyfriend's arms, watching the proceedings with slightly glazed eyes. There was still a smear of blood under her nose. Angie knew that Edward and watching her anxiously out the corner of his eye, even as he kept his gaze fixed hawkishly on Bella and Adam.

She watched him watch all of them, and was still startled when he spoke. Low, so that only she could hear: "Do you believe what you saw?"

It was the last question she expected.

"I have to," she said. "It was right in front of me. I never closed my eyes."

He turned to look at her then, and for the first time since the day the Cullens and Hales walked into the Forks High School cafeteria, Angie let herself openly study the strangeness of one of them. The bone-white skin, the luminescent gold eyes, the rigid posture and unforgiving beauty of his face.

"And do you believe what you _see_?"

She steeled herself. Nodded.

His eyes narrowed. A predator looked back at her. Sometimes it amazed her that her school mates could believe that they were human.

"Are you afraid?" he asked.

She didn't have to lie.

"Terrified."

Terrified, and determined.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Angie, hi."

"Holy…" Angie ducked into an empty classroom, away from the streams of students heading to the caf for lunch, and clutched her cell phone to her left ear. "Bella? Oh my god, are you alright?"

"Not a scratch," Bella said, voice fraught with tension. "Adam too."

There was a pause, a kind of unsaid understanding between them. Angie swallowed.

"Are you still at the hospital?"

"No…no, they let us go after the x-rays came back. I'm at home. I just…wanted to talk to someone, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know." Angie sighed. "Just so you know, the rumour mill is going a mile a minute right now."

Bella snorted. "I figured. I almost wish they'd let us go back to school, but Dad's totally freaked out and Adam's mom wasn't much better. She was on duty at the ER, met us at the door. Cullen… Edward's dad was here too. Angie?"

"Yeah?"

"You…you saw it, right? You saw…what happened?"

Angie leant back against the classroom door and slowly let herself sink to the floor.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Yeah. It…Bells, it looked like an explosion. But, not like the ones in the movies. More like…like that flash you see in the old films of a nuclear bomb going off. Y'know – just a big flash of light before the sound starts. No smoke, just…light."

When Bella spoke again, her voice was shaky.

"That's not how it looked from where I was sitting," she rasped.

"Why? What did it –?"

"Angie, I've gotta go."

"Bella…"

"I'll call you later, promise."

The line went dead. Angie leant her head against the door and closed her eyes.

_Curiouser and curiouser…_

* * *

It was ten-thirty.

Angie stared at the clock, faintly myopic and feeling not a little dazed. She usually would have been getting ready for bed by now, tidying her homework away and winding her hair into a loose braid to keep it from tangling.

Instead she was elbow-deep in her mother's old hope chest; it was Angie's now, and instead of silver and linen she kept books in it. Books that she didn't want her borthers or her parents to see…

Despite the extensive reading material, Angie was beginning to admit to herself that she couldn't solve this mystery by herself.

She listened for a moment, making sure her mother wasn't patrolling the hallway to make sure the boys were asleep, or that her father had decided to come up and extract his hermitting daughter from her room.

Nope – blissful solitude.

She pulled out her phone and mentally apologised to her monthly bill, before dialling a number she knew by heart.

_Ring…_

_Ring…_

_Ring…_

"Singer Salvage Yard."

"Hi, Uncle Bobby."

* * *

When Angie was twelve, her parents sent her to go and stay with her mother's brother-in-law. Auntie Karen had died before Angie was born, but Uncle Bobby and Mom still wrote to each other and visited when they had the time, and sent pictures when they didn't.

Angie liked going to visit him – the scrapyard in front of the house was like some kind of strange adventure playground to a quiet young girl with a vivid imagination – but this was the first time she'd gone by herself.

She wasn't too happy about going either; Mom was sick and she and her brothers were being sent to relatives to get them out from underfoot.

Her brothers were staying with Dad's sister, Auntie Morgan, who only lived a little way outside of Forks on a farm. But Angie didn't really like Auntie Morgan (who didn't approve of sitting indoors and reading most of the day) and so she'd begged to go somewhere else, _anywhere_ else!

When her father had suggested she stay with Jessica, Angie pointed out that she would be even less likely to get any peace there, either.

"What about Uncle Bobby?"

Well, she liked it at Uncle Bobby's. He was nice and he still read to her aloud when she asked, even though that was kind of a little kid thing. And his last letter said he'd just got a new puppy, Rumsfeld.

"South Dakota's kind a far away…" she said hesitantly.

Dad shook his head and kissed her forehead. "As long as you're happy, sweetheart."

She wasn't happy. Her Mom was sick and she was going away for who knew how long…

But at least she was going somewhere good. And when she got there, it was better than she remembered; as well as the new junkyard-dog-in-training, Uncle Bobby had got a whole lot of new books for her to read and put them in a special bookshelf for her in his library. She got to have her own room this time, the attic bedroom at the top of the house with the pretty yellow wallpaper and white wash wainscoting with matching doors and a pitched ceiling. It was like something out of one of her old storybooks…

…Right up until it started being like something out of a Goosebumps novel and the old porcelain doll in the actual attic opposite her room came alive, climbed out of its box and tried murder her.

Luckily Rumsfeld had taken to sleeping on the end of her bed and sounded the alarm, which caused Uncle Bobby to come charging into her room swinging a shovel. The doll took one hit to the face and collapse on the rug in a welter of china shards and old lace.

"Damn," said Uncle Bobby, "thought I'd gotten all of 'em."

Once Angie had stopped shaking, and Uncle Bobby had gotten her situated on the library couch with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate (and when the doll's remains had been put in a sack with salt and set to burn safely away to nothing in the fireplace)…that was when the questions started.

"Uncle," she said seriously, "was that a haunted doll?"

Uncle Bobby had stared at her. "Now what makes you think that, Angel?"

"I'm not stupid you know," she'd said primly. "I've read almost all of Goosebumps. Those are books," she added when Uncle raised his eyebrows. "And…and I saw _Chuckie_."

This one he obviously knew, because he rolled his eyes and said, "How in the sam hill did you manage that?"

"…Tyler from school has a pizza party and his big brother has it on video. Only we didn't watch all of it because Jess said she'd call her mom to come and get me and her. And Tyler didn't want Lauren to be the only girl there. She's kind of mean."

"Right," said Uncle, "well…" He sighed and scrubbed his thinning hair with one hand. Angie thought he looked…tired. A little sad. "I'd give anything to not have to tell you this, kiddo, but yeah; that was a haunted doll. There was a set of 'em and I thought I'd managed to destroy the whole lot, but that one must have snuck off and hid."

Angie frowned. "But how come it tried to…to get me? Why didn't it try and get you, if you smashed all its friends?"

"Because it was the sort of ghost that only went after little girls," Uncle said gently, "and this is the first time it's been close to a little girl, sleeping in a room by herself, for ten years."

"Oh," said Angie. She thought for a moment, then said, "Uncle?"

"Yeah, Angel?"

"If…if there's ghosts…does that mean there's other stuff?"

Uncle Bobby sighed. "Yeah," he said.

"Like what?"

Uncle smiled sadly. Then he leant forward and kissed her forehead.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

* * *

"Remember how I said I'd tell you about the supernatural stuff as long as you didn't go looking for it?" Uncle Bobby was saying now. "Well, darlin', this is looking."

"But it's not!" Angie found herself arguing. "Seriously, Uncle, this is all happening in my own backyard. I mean, it's not like I can actively avoid Adam and Bella for the rest of high school – or at all. Forks is kind of small."

Uncle Bobby sighed. "You sure this hasn't got anything to do with…those others?"

Angie had called him from school half an hour after first laying eyes on the Cullen/Hale contingent on their first day. His advice had been to keep her distance and be polite until they could figure out if they were a threat. That had been two years ago, and Angie was still being polite, although the distance thing hadn't worked out as well as she'd hoped. She and Edward seemed to be paired together for a number of in-class projects and they got along well enough.

What made her wary, however, was that they'd never really figured out the 'threat' part, or what they actually were. And then there was that Edward knew about Bella and Adam. He hadn't been surprised, but he hadn't seemed happy about it either. Angie was usually pretty good at reading people (although she wasn't sure if the Cullens counted as 'people') and looking back, there was almost an undercurrent of…fear, maybe, or worry in Edward's regard of the situation. Add Alice Cullen's on-going and bizarre reactions…

"No," Angie said, fidgeting with her pendant. It had been a gift from Uncle, after the doll incident – a tiny blown glass bottle with a silver stopper and two miniscule black feathers inside. "No, I don't think it's because of them. I think they're aware of this though. They know something's different about Adam and Bella. I think it's…alarming for them."

"You think they'll act on it?" Uncle Bobby sounded deadly serious right now. Angie felt a little shiver of her own worry up her spine.

"It's hard to tell. I don't think Edward would, or Alice, but I don't know the rest of their family well enough to judge."

"I see," said Uncle Bobby, voice thoughtful. "Not a scratch on 'em, you said?"

"Nothing," Angie agreed. "It was…just super, _super_ weird."

Uncle sighed, and she could picture him, sitting at his old desk in the library, open books strewn before him while their closed cousins formed squat towers at either end, notes on loose paper scattered like leaves, coffee rapidly cooling in a chipped mug by his right hand. He would be pushing up the brim of his hat to rub his forehead while he wore that settled expression of deep thought. She _missed_ him.

"Alright," he said, "well, I can't exactly come calling as a crash scene investigator in my family's own town, now, can I? So…"

"So… maybe I need to do some investigating?"

"So maybe you need to focus on your English essay and I need to call in the cavalry. You remember Rufus, don't you?"

* * *

**AN:** DIDN'T SEE THAT COMIN' DIDJA? Lol, since Edward wasn't well received last time (now, now, no character bashing – he might be okay if he just took the stick out of his arse) I figured I'd hit you with some Angie magic. She's so underutilised in canon it's appalling. But that's what I love about minor characters; you can just swoop right on in there and give them a nice surprising background!

Also, I'm _disappointed_, guys. I had on reviewer pick up the title of Adam's chapter (ohgravitysonfire, looking at you babe), but not of the whole fic. Really? I'll give you a clue – it's a song. By a band that Dean loves. That starts with L. (And if you can pick the song that _this_ chapter is named for, I'll reach through the internet and smooch you.)


	6. Chapter Six: Shivering Flame

**AN:** For those of you who guessed Led Zeppelin's 'In the Evening', hell yeah. I love that song. Funnily enough, _I did not even know_ that Ozzie had a song called 'Fire in the Sky', but that chapter was actually taken from a lyric in Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water': _Smoke on the water, fire in the sky…_

And now, chapter six, where we find ourselves back in Adam's shoes. Soundtracks for this chapter are music by Al Lethbridge, which can be found on YouTube and SoundCloud: 'Arctic', 'The Yearning', 'Old Men Remember' and 'Conflicted'. Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter Six – Shivering Flame**

In the Milligan's living room, Adam sat curled up with his mother, watching the second round of wet snow come down and clot up their driveway. Kate had fallen asleep half an hour ago, exhausted by things it hurt Adam to think of.

"I can't lose you too," she'd whispered, eyes closed and on the brink of dreaming. "Sweetheart, I can't lose you…"

"You won't, Mom," he'd whispered back. "You won't, promise."

He wondered if it was a promise he could keep. Wondered if anyone was ever capable of it, his father's face flashing across his mind's eye. The only reason Adam was even able to make this promise now was…

_A spiralling light storm consuming them._

_The sound of screaming metal beyond the twisting torrent of sparks, blue and gold and white where they touched._

_Bella's breath against his throat, her skin singing under his hands, against his mouth._

_The smell of ozone, of melting metal, of heat without smoke, of sunlight, of burning sugar._

_Bella found his eyes with hers. The world stopped…_

Adam closed his eyes, hard, and took a deep breath.

"Mom," he murmured, gently shaking her shoulder. "Mom, I have to go see Bella, okay?"

She stirred slowly, blinking at him. "…what?"

"I have to see Bella."

Kate's lips parted, expression anxious. "Baby…"

"I…I have to see her," Adam said, helplessly. "Mom, I have to."

She watched him, searching his face, and understanding flickered there. "Okay…okay, just be careful."

"I will," he said, grateful, and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Love you."

"Love you too. Call me when you get there."

* * *

It was still snowing when he pulled up at the Swan house. Chief Swan's patrol car was parked in the drive, and Adam could see him sitting at their dining room table through the front window. Even from here, the dark circles under his eyes and the down turn of his mouth was visible. He looked like he'd aged a decade in a day.

Adam felt his chest seize all over again – thinking about what Charlie must have gone through; getting that call about the accident, learning who was involved. It hurt, because his mother had gone through the same thing.

When Charlie spotted Adam coming up the steps, he opened the window, calling out, "she's round back, Adam."

"Thanks, Chief Swan."

"Yeah…"

He felt the older man's eyes on him as he made his way around the side porch to the back of the house. Bella was here; pacing up and down the boards, arms wrapped around herself and pausing occasionally to look out into the snowy wreak of the backyard, her breath fogging round her in a silver halo.

Adam felt his chest tighten, his fingertips tingling. It had been a kind of hell, saying goodbye at the hospital this afternoon; like they _could_ be separated, but it was _too soon_, like a set of electronic magnets being drawn apart when the power hadn't been wound all the way down.

"Bells?"

She whipped around to look at him, dark eyes softening and filling with something warm and earnest. Then she was striding towards him and almost tackling him in a hug.

"Hey," he murmured putting his arms around her, "hey, I'm right here. We're okay. We're okay, I promise."

"You can't go 'round promising stuff like that," she breathed back against his collarbones. He smiled; shoulda known she'd be the one to call him on his impossible promises. "Adam, what is going on…?"

He shook his head slowly, kissing her temple. "I don't know."

"That wasn't _normal_. Angie said…Angie said that it looked like a kind of nuclear explosion, but without the heat blast, or sound, or radiation…" She pulled back to meet his eyes. "How does something like that happen?"

He could only shake his head. Reach up and cup her cheek…

She reached up too, putting her hand over his and –

Sparks danced there. Only for a moment, but half a dozen of them fell from their fingertips, like tiny glowing snowflakes.

Adam gasped and drew his hand back, taking Bella's with it.

"Adam, what…?"

"Look," he breathed, and gathered her hands in his, holding their laced fingers up.

Nothing happened. Adam frowned. Bella raised both eyebrows.

"Adam…"

He shook his head. "No, I – okay, just let me try something."

"Okay…"

Adam took her right hand, held it up at shoulder height – "hold it there." – and then lifted his own. Their palms were no more than six inches apart. The tension was like a tightening coil, drawing the air thick and close and cold.

"Move your hand slowly towards mine," he said softly. "Think about…think about what happened today, when you saw the truck coming towards us. Towards me."

Bella's eyes tightened with remembered fear, remembered pain, and her gaze never wavered from his until…

Sparks. Blue in his palm, gold in hers, but turning white the closer their hands got to each other, as they combined in the now two inch space between them.

Bella gasped abruptly, as though she'd been holding her breath (maybe she had) and Adam leant forward, putting his forehead against hers and closing his eyes for a second as they stood roughly breathing the same air.

He pressed his hand forward and the sparks flashed once, silent, magnesium-bright, before dying as their palms met.

"What are we?" Bella breathed, her face anxious, her voice shaking ever so slightly.

"Something else," Adam murmured, squeezing her hand once and then wrapping his arm around her again. "Something… something different."

"Different doesn't mean better," she whispered.

Adam met her eyes, held them, and reached up again to touch her face. "It doesn't mean wrong, either."

Bella swallowed hard. "God, I hope you're right."

(Neither of them saw the figure watching them from the shadows under the wet trees at the back of the Swan property. Neither of them saw him clench his jaw, curl his fists, before silently darting away.)

* * *

Edward and Alice Cullen were conspicuously absent the next day. Their siblings settled at their usual table, Jasper and Rosalie looking perpetually out of sorts while Emmett eyed them warily. He caught Adam's eyes once, over Angie's shoulder, and Adam was startled to see Emmett tightened his jaw and look away first.

When he glanced at Bella beside him, he found she was still watching Emmett.

"What was that all about?" she murmured.

"I can guess," he murmured back, and then elaborated at Bella's questioning look: "They kinda strike you as people who have things under control, right?"

"Right…"

"They don't know what happened yesterday any more than we do. And that bugs them."

"Because if they don't understand it they can't figure out how to control it."

"Exactly."

Bella shook her head faintly. "Well, they need to suck it up and deal." Her mouth thinned. "They're not the ones whose lives have been upended."

Adam took her hand under the table and squeezed her fingers gently. She immediately squeezed back.

"So!" Jess said briskly across the table from them, startling Angie, (who looked a little tired, actually…) "Since the snow has started melting out, it looks like the beach trip is still on." She paused, looking annoyed. "Providing we can find another ride."

She was right; Bella's truck and Tyler's van were hopelessly ruined. If they wanted to get out to First Beach next Saturday they would need to take more cars in order to fit everyone.

"Mom's working that day," Adam remembered, "so our car is out."

"I can use the Suburban," Mike put in, grinning, "and we know that can take up to nine without having to tie someone to the roof rack."

Jess rolled her eyes. "Great. Well, that leaves at least four people…"

"Um, I'd borrow my mom's minivan," Tyler said, and then cast an anguished look at Adam and Bella. "…but she doesn't really want me driving at the moment."

"Fair enough," Jess said. "Anyone else?"

"I can," Angie answered. "Dad'll spend the day writing for Sunday, so I can use his car. That's me plus four others, so the Suburban won't be too squashed. We should have one more car though, just in case."

"If no one minds the dog hair I can bring mine," Ben volunteered.

"Great!" Mike enthused, grinning. "We have a plan."

The rest of the day passed in relative quiet, with the exception of everyone and his dog coming up to Adam and Bella to exclaim over how they were alive and apparently unscathed and _God, weren't you just so lucky!_

He and Bella would agree, exchange sidelong looks and if no on particularly observant was looking, surreptitiously link hands, feeling the now familiar spike of sensation when their palms met.

Apparently not surreptitiously enough.

"So," Jess said, as she and a long-suffering Angie cornered him during study period, "you and Bella, huh?"

"It's not like that," Adam tried (although he totally wished it was).

"Whatever!" Jess crowed. "You totally wanna hit that."

_Oh, godly God have mercy._

"I know where you live," Adam threatened, only to get laughed at again. "I can't get no respect," he muttered, then scowled at Angie when she patted his back and murmured, 'there, there.' "Not helping, Angie."

Angie simply smiled in her kind-and-serene Angie way and said reasonably, "You went through a very stressful experience together – it's only natural that your feeling would blossom because of it."

Angie was so nice and sane. He could've gone without the whole 'blossom' reference though.

"_Anyway_," Jess put in, still grinning because she wasn't raised right and seemed determined to live vicariously through her friends since evidentially Newton wasn't putting out like she planned. "Have you kissed her?"

"Jesus, Jessica, no!"

"Why nooooooooot?" she whined at him.

"Look, just because you can't find the keys to Newton's chastity belt and have the sexual frustration of a _nun_ or something does not mean the rest of us are panting after our significant others. And Bella and I aren't even together!" he added, just to be clear.

Jess rolled her eyes, entirely unimpressed with his tirade, though Angie had a hand clamped over her mouth to stifle a serious case of the giggles.

"Don't be such a priss," Jess said. "If you want to date her just ask her out – she likes you, she'll say yes. And then Mike will stop saving himself and I'll finally get to shimmy him out of his prom dress!" she added brightly. "Everybody gets laid! Yays!"

Angie had her head down on one folded arm and was laughing weakly into her elbow.

"You're terrible," Adam told Jess. "Look, you broke Angie."

Angie hiccupped and raised her head. "You're both awful." She laughed again, shaking her head. "Oh, I almost forgot…"

"Oh yeah!" Jess exchanged a grin with her friend and then turned to Adam. "We heard a rumour!"

"About?" Adam asked, cautious. All the rumours seemed to be about him lately, whether it be about how totally gay Edward Cullen was for him or how he had latent superpowers and Bella was the Wonder Woman to his Superman (which he didn't mind so much, actually, except that the superpowers were weren't exactly _latent_ anymore)…

"We were in the office getting equipment for Mr Banner," Angie explained, "and overheard Ms Cope talking to Mr Greene. Apparently Mr Mason's finally taking a sabbatical to work on his book and we're getting a sub for the rest of the year."

"Seriously?" Adam had to smile. This wasn't as big a deal to him as the new guy – all the teachers here were still new to him anyway. But if there was one he could do without it was the endlessly superior Mr Mason. "Awesome. Maybe the sub won't have the stick jammed so far up his a–"

"Do you _mind_," Lauren demanded, turning around in her seat to glare at the three of them. "_Some of us_ actually use this time to _work_."

"Sorry, Laurie," Angie demurred, "we'll keep it down, okay?"

Lauren sneered and went back to her math text book. Jess made a few choice faces at her back. They did quieten down though, and while Jess struggled through her English essay and doodled pictures of her boyfriend in his underwear with rather exaggerated, uh, attributes, Adam had the following written conversation with Angie:

_**So, you heard from Cullen?**_

_Which one?_

_**The one that's totally gay for me.**_

_LOL. Not really, though. I texted him this morning and just got a reply after lunch. Alice is really sick so he's staying home with her. Something about that bug they had coming back and Dr Cullen wanting them home for observation._

_**You believe him?**_

_I don't know. He seemed pretty freaked out by what happened. And Alice always looks really delicate, maybe she's one of those girls who gets sick after stressful situations._

Adam cast her an incredulous look and Angie gave him the 'what?' face back.

"I don't buy it," Adam whispered. "There is _something up_ with that family. Bella thinks so too."

Angie gave him a helpless look. "I…I know but…"

"It's okay, Ange, I know. I get it. I don't know what it is either." He smiled reassuringly. "We just need to ask the right person the right questions."

* * *

The rest of the week was a blur of school, moments of panic, moments of frustration and Adam and Bella clinging to each other both literally and figuratively like two pieces of flotsam spinning at the centre of a firestorm.

Dreams of sparks haunted them. They discovered that when they dreamed like that, they dreamed in sync. Adam found himself flushing in the middle of an English class when he realized that Bella would have dreamt of the kiss as well (oh yes, he remembered that now, and so would she…)

Alice and Edward Cullen had yet to show at school, or in town at all.

On Friday, both he and Bella were called out of class to the office. Chief Swan was there, along with Adam's mom and an unfamiliar guy in a suit – tall, black, fifties but still with all his hair and hardly any grey. There was…something about him that seemed almost familiar. Not in his features, Adam mused, but in the way he carried himself, the watchful nature of his gaze.

They were ushered into an unoccupied teacher's office and introduced.

"Adam, Bella, this is Agent Rufus Bartlett," Chief Swan said. "He's a crash scene expert from the FBI."

* * *

**AN:** Everybody say 'Hello Rufus!'


End file.
